These vegetables are making me crazy
Yesterday, after over cooking my second roast in a row. I managed to save dinner by thawing out my trusty blackened salmon and whipped up some instant mashed potatoes (my own recipe) and frozen broccoli - only, I boiled it. It’s easier to eat when it’s not frozen.
Earlier in the day I read an article regarding children eating their vegetables. It spoke about the people who are hiding them in food to get their children to eat them. While it’s good for them to eat their vegetables, by not introducing them in their natural form the child may never develop a taste for them. Well, I am/was one of those people, although I did still put the vegetables on their plate, I didn’t make them eat it. Last night I decided that I was going to require the kids to have a few bites of broccoli.
Jake sits at the table and immediately announces, “I don’t like broccoli. Boys don’t eat broccoli.”
Me: Boys do eat broccoli if they want a surprise.
Jake was at peace with not having the surprise, until Stew and I ate our broccoli and announced that we would get a surprise. Jake seemed undeterred until he observed our empty plates. He finally relented and decided that yes, he too wanted a surprise. Now, it’s not as if I pulled the broccoli straight from the bag. I did add a little butter, salt and pepper. Jake began to put his first piece of broccoli into his mouth, the whole time he was beginning to do a fake cry/hyperventilation. You would have thought that we told him he was giving up becoming a man and would spend the rest of his life living with his mother.
He finally placed the broccoli into his mouth and began the gagging. One second would go by and I’d think that he was about to chew and then he’d gag. That repeated about 5-6 times until finally he started chewing. He chewed and chewed and chewed. I offered him a drink of apple juice, which he took to help swallow the foul little green tree. Once he swallowed, he looked up in amazement and said:
Jake: I LIKE IT!
Jake ate the rest of his brocolli, jumped down from the table, went outside and smashed his face up against the backdoor (think Jack Nicholson in the Shining).
Jake: MAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE YOU SOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!
Me: I love you too!
Jake: MAMA!! I ATE THE BROCOLLI!!!!!!! I ATE IT ALL GONE!!!!!!! I LIKED IT!!!!!!
He then ran onto the patio, jumped onto his bicycle, and rode in circles. Stew looked at me like I had spiked his food with a few drops of LSD. I swear. I didn’t.
